Access to electrical power within a building or other similar structure is typically provided by electrical receptacles or outlets that receive the prongs of a plug. The electrical receptacles in a permanent structure are traditionally mounted in electrical outlet boxes within the wall so that the face of the receptacles is flush with the surface of the wall.
Providing power for each of the electrical outlets requires wiring the outlets to a source of electrical power. Electrical receptacles are usually provided in the form of a duplex receptacle having two receptacle outlets. Two duplex receptacles can be placed side by side to form a quadplex receptacle, however, each of the duplex receptacles must be separately wired. Accordingly, the more receptacle outlets needed or provided in a structure, the more wiring required. This can lead to mistakes in wiring and increases the time and cost of installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,455 to Bagga discloses a quadruplex receptacle having four receptacle outlets which can be connected in common to a single electrical cable. The receptacle outlets can be at different orientations with respect to each other. The receptacle outlets are mounted within a plastic housing which “can be surface mounted, mounted over a variety of types of outlet boxes, mountable with or without an adapter plate to various surfaces or can be used as a portable device when assembled to a special back.” (See e.g., Bagga at column 1, lines 35-39). Bagga does not disclose or suggest providing a housing with flanges for placement of the receptacle in a standard in-wall outlet box, or expanding the receptacle to provide more than four receptacle outlets or placing receptacle outlets on more than one side of the housing.